T-Trak The N scale Pennsy Juniata Division 2.0 - T-TRAK!

[Dave V]

OK, I suck. I relied on memory rather than on using my eyeballs. Those short 15 degree curve pieces I'm already using? They're R249 (9.75") and the track centers are exactly 33 mm. I should have measured, not guessed. This is a pile of Unitrack I had leftover from the Unitrack layout I built for my son years ago. I thought those were the leftover 19" radius R481 15 degree turns from the #4 turnouts we'd used. Nope. Nevertheless, the R315 (12.75") radius 15 degree turns will be mechanically better on the trains and perhaps slightly visually better while the 35 mm track spacing for the passing siding (which I still want to look more like a third main) will go largely unnoticed.

Here's the state of affairs if I add an extra single on each side...Harrisburg will be the far end.

[Dave V]

Seriously considering starting the switch now to all concrete tie track (painted to look like wood) anticipating the eventual availability of the #6 switch and 12 3/8 " radius single curves in concrete tie.

It's a LOT of tie painting, but it's not impossible. I really like how it looks on the interlocking module. I just don't know whether the shape of the tie holds up under close scrutiny with its concrete profile.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, the concrete tie profile really doesn't show up under close photography that well (see directly in front of the engine). I think I'll do it.

[robert3985]

Seriously considering starting the switch now to all concrete tie track (painted to look like wood) anticipating the eventual availability of the #6 switch and 12 3/8 " radius single curves in concrete tie.

It's a LOT of tie painting, but it's not impossible. I really like how it looks on the interlocking module. I just don't know whether the shape of the tie holds up under close scrutiny with its concrete profile.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, the concrete tie profile really doesn't show up under close photography that well (see directly in front of the engine). I think I'll do it.

@Dave V - Dave, IF, (and it's a BIG "IF") I were gonna paint Kato Unitrack concrete tie track, then ballast it, I would paint it the same way I paint my Micro Engineering Code55 Flex...with a rattle-can of Ultra-Flat Camo Black first, then directly (directly) overhead with Ultra-Flat Camo Brown...lightly, enough to get the ties covered, with a little overspray on the sides of the rails and the sides of the ties...making sure to remove the paint coating the railheads before it cures...way before it cures.  Then, using several shades of grey and brown, I'd randomly brush paint different tones on maybe 1/3 of the ties...or even a little less.

Of course, since you're gonna ballast it, what the molded-on ballast color is, is irrelevant.

This doesn't take long and IMO looks very good.

I also weather the tracks after ballasting too since they get dirty together, and a bit of airbrushing of grime/grease/brake dust down the middle, or weed killer...fading either color mostly out before you get to the rails, adds to the continuity...and goes pretty quickly.

Brush painting each individual tie isn't something I think you should have to worry about.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Dave V]

It's what I did on that interlocking module and I like how it came out. I only ballasted the side profile, not a single stone between the rails. That's all blended with weathering.

I painted every individual tie with one of about a dozen different shades on my 12 x 14 foot HOn3 layout, by hand, with a tiny brush. It's therapeutic. It appeals to my OCD... 

The real LIMFAC here is that the concrete ties are almost flush with the molded ballast profile at the center, which means it's a nontrivial effort to ensure an even, single-stone layer of ballast between each set of ties. Between the two tedious choices, I'll take the paint.

[arbomambo]

Painting the ties on the Kato concrete tie unitrack isn’t a big deal… I’ve done it plenty of times.
Here on a Kato/Woodland Scenics foam T-TRAK module.



And here, on a couple of wide radius corner modules (19”)





And here, on one of my Southwestern double modules

[Dave V]

Hey Bruce, did you brush paint those rails? If so, what paint do you use? I’ve had trouble with acrylics sticking to the rail… I’ve primarily been using the rail paint pens.

[arbomambo]

Hey Bruce, did you brush paint those rails? If so, what paint do you use? I’ve had trouble with acrylics sticking to the rail… I’ve primarily been using the rail paint pens.

[ski]

It's what I did on that interlocking module and I like how it came out. I only ballasted the side profile, not a single stone between the rails. That's all blended with weathering.

I painted every individual tie with one of about a dozen different shades on my 12 x 14 foot HOn3 layout, by hand, with a tiny brush. It's therapeutic. It appeals to my OCD... 

The real LIMFAC here is that the concrete ties are almost flush with the molded ballast profile at the center, which means it's a nontrivial effort to ensure an even, single-stone layer of ballast between each set of ties. Between the two tedious choices, I'll take the paint.

How did you weather between the ties?  It looks really good in that photo above...like there is really ballast there!

[Dave V]

How did you weather between the ties?  It looks really good in that photo above...like there is really ballast there!

Pan pastels. But I may have been unclear… I didn’t spray bomb that track. That’s individually painted ties with the original molded blallast.

[Dave V]

This weekend I worked on @John 's exquisite 3D print of the PRR Huntingdon depot:



...following a picture on Jerry Britton's page for Huntingdon showing what it looked like before the 1960s-era "Operation Beaver" repaint. It was a weatherbeaten buff-painted brick with brown trim:

https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/images/HU_Huntingdon/Pennsylvania_Railroads_Passenger_Station_in_Huntingdon_in_October_of_1965.jpg

And I'm building modules.

[basementcalling]

Has anyone ever tried to create a file for a Criquit style cutter to cut blue painters tape into a mask to cover the ballast to make spray bombing the ties easier? Even if it only covers the ties between the rails, repainting just the ends has to be easier than brushing all the tie surfaces.

Thoughts?

[John]

This weekend I worked on @John 's exquisite 3D print of the PRR Huntingdon depit:

That rocks .. I'm so happy that I could help you get back to the Middle Division

[Dave V]

That rocks .. I'm so happy that I could help you get back to the Middle Division

I would never have attempted Huntingdon without your prints of HUNT tower and the 1872 depot. Thanks again, man!

[Dave V]

It's slow-going but the results are worth it. Once I ballast the shoulders in and then weather along the rails and tie plates with pan pastels, the little bit of gray still showing on the ties will blend away.

[Dave V]

I love it when the mailbox is full of Pennsy goodness. Much of this is courtesy of @Ed Kapuscinski , who's been my East Coast train show purchase agent.



Trimming all the supports off the Yelton Models MO (Cresson) PRR tower was an effort, and I still have some cleanup left to do on the parts. But here's what it looks like. It'll replace the not-so-Pennsy tower on this module:





(And no, it won't go there, it'll go where the Walthers tower currently sits.)